Because of problems in manufacturing due to the pandemic, the importation of automobile pieces collapsed in Brazil at the end of 2021. This caused stagnation in the local industry. At the same time, BMW was launching its most innovative car yet in Europe: the BMW iX. Our task was to launch the car in Brazil in January 2022.

But how could we do that if the car hadn’t arrived yet in the country? How could we offer the same purchasing experience that the BMW consumer was used to?

The lack of the product in the local market could amount to the target buying other brands. So, our challenge was to engage the target, making it experience the iX, do a test-drive and pre-reserve a unit.

We made digital the journey of buying a new BMW, thus bypassing the lack of the product in dealerships due to logistic problems. In one of the biggest roleplay servers in Brazil, namely Complexo, we recreated the BMWiX down to the smallest detail. We built a concept store in the platform, so that players could find out more about the car inside out, experiencing its horsepower and technologies in a test-drive done in gameplay format. We increased the reach with a launch event for which we invited one of Brazil’s most famous streamers to be the host. He presented the activation live with the first ever car launch in Twitch, showing all the car differentials in detail and giving a review in real time to thousands of people.

Due to the logistic problem that prevented the BMW iX from being in Brazil, our strategy was to present it to the public in the gamer universe. To do that, we created a digital experience in the roleplaying server Complexo where there is a relevant phenomenon: the community’s players are in love with the brand. For the launch we invited one of Brazil most famous streamers and an automotive sector journalist. They did the first ever live car launch in the history of Twitch, the world’s biggest game platform with a huge audience composed mainly of users from the younger generations and technology early adopters. Every detail counts when it comes to purchasing a luxury car such as the BMW iX. So, we tried to recreate it as real as possible in the digital medium. During the live launch, a link re-directed the target for a pre-purchase reservation.

First we recreated the BMW iX in Complexo, one of Brazil’s biggest roleplay servers. A design project that was emulated the original car, down to the smallest details, features, and technology, only in gameplay format. We created a concept store in the platform in which the players would find out and interact with the car in an immersive experience, trying out the car’s features and mechanisms.

For the launch event, the streamer Nobru did the first live test-drive with iX on Twitch. And, together with the journalist Cris Amaral, specialist in the automotive sector, showed the car’s differentials in an interactive review in which the audience could ask questions and the prospects could be redirected to the pre-purchase reservation during the live that made TOP 1 stream in the game category.

We turned a logistic problem into the biggest sales cases for BMW in Brazil.

Less than 12 hours after the launch live, on January 24th, 2022, all pre-reserved units had been sold.

Twitch’s live stream’s results:

18,252 people watching simultaneously

532,926 views in less than 24 hours

Live made TOP 1 stream in the game category

BMW iX is the first BMW sold-out in Brazil without ever having arrived in the country.